2022 The Basketball Classic

2022 The Basketball Classic
Season	2021–22
Teams	32 planned; 21 bids accepted; 18 teams competed
Finals site	HTC Center; Conway, South Carolina
Champions	Fresno State (1st title)
Runner-up	Coastal Carolina (1st title game)
Semifinalists	South Alabama (1st semifinal); Southern Utah (1st semifinal);
Winning coach	Justin Hutson (1st title)
MVP	Orlando Robinson (Fresno State)
Attendance	1,407 (championship game)
The Basketball Classics
	2023»

The 2022 The Basketball Classic (TBC) was a single-elimination men's college basketball postseason tournament featuring National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams not selected to participate in the NCAA tournament or the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). The tournament began on March 15 with the championship game played on April 1. The tournament was won by the Fresno State Bulldogs. All games were streamed on ESPN+.

Structure

Tournament organizers originally announced that there would be 32 teams in the field.^[1] However, when the participating teams were named, there were only 21 listed. Three teams then withdrew prior to competing, leaving the actual field size at 18 for the tournament. In lieu of a traditional bracket, a model previously used by the NIT was implemented, in which the matchups are set after each round. Later-round host sites are determined, at least in part, by first-round game attendance figures.

Five matchups in the tournament were designated as "Legend Games", honoring Willis Reed, Travis Grant, Zelmo Beaty, Marques Haynes and Cleo Hill, all of whom played college basketball at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).^[2] In addition to advancing in the tournament, the winning teams received a trophy honoring the legend for whom the particular game was named. Due to scheduling issues, the Cleo Hill game was not played.

Participating teams

Zelmo Beaty, Cleo Hill, and Willis Reed, three Legend Game namesakes

The following 18 teams accepted invitations to the tournament and competed. Team records listed are from before the tournament started.

Team	Conference	Overall record
Appalachian State^[3]^[4]	Sun Belt	19–14
Coastal Carolina^[5]^[6]	Sun Belt	16–13
Detroit Mercy^[7]^[8]	Horizon League	14–15
Eastern Washington^[9]	Big Sky	18–15
Florida Gulf Coast^[10]	Atlantic Sun	21–11
Fresno State^[11]	Mountain West	19–13
Kent State^[12]	MAC	23–10
Maryland Eastern Shore^[6]	MEAC	11–15
Morgan State	MEAC	13–14
New Orleans^[13]	Southland	18–13
Portland^[14]	West Coast	18–14
South Alabama^[15]^[16]	Sun Belt	19–11
Southeastern Louisiana^[16]	Southland	19–14
Southern Utah^[12]^[17]^[18]	Big Sky	20–11
USC Upstate^[4]	Big South	14–16
UTEP^[19]^[20]	Conference USA	19–13
Western Illinois^[20]	Summit	16–15
Youngstown State^[21]	Horizon League	18–14

Three programs accepted invitations, but withdrew prior to playing: Merrimack,^[22]^[a] UMBC,^[23]^[24] Wofford.^[25]^[26]

The following programs declined invitations: Arkansas State,^[27] Liberty,^[28] Oakland,^[8] Samford,^[29] Sam Houston State,^[30] Utah Valley,^[18]^[30] Weber State.^[18]

Schedule

Date	Time	Matchup	Score	Attendance	Ref.
First round
March 15	6:30 p.m.	USC Upstate at Appalachian State	80–74	2,146	^[31]
March 16	7:00 p.m.	Detroit Mercy at Florida Gulf Coast	79–95	505	^[32]
	7:00 p.m.	The Zelmo Beaty Game Maryland Eastern Shore at Coastal Carolina	42–66	923	^[33]
	8:00 p.m.	The Marques Haynes Game Morgan State at Youngstown State	65–70	1,045	^[34]
	8:00 p.m.	The Travis Grant Game Southeastern Louisiana at South Alabama	68–70	885	^[35]
	9:00 p.m.	The Willis Reed Game Kent State at Southern Utah	79–83	1,316	^[36]
March 17	10:00 p.m.	Eastern Washington at Fresno State	74–83	1,166	^[37]
March 19	3:00 p.m.	Western Illinois at UTEP^[b]	54–80	3,500	^[39]
March 19	10:00 p.m.	New Orleans at Portland	73–94	659	^[40]
Second round
March 21	7:00 p.m.	Florida Gulf Coast at Coastal Carolina	68–84	825	^[41]
March 21	8:00 p.m.	USC Upstate at South Alabama	79–83	699	^[42]
March 22	9:00 p.m.	Southern Utah at UTEP	82–69	3,510	^[43]
March 23	10:00 p.m.	Youngstown State at Fresno State	71–80	1,754	^[44]
Quarterfinals
March 26	6:00 p.m.	Portland at Southern Utah	66–77	1,504	^[45]
Semifinals
March 28	8:00 p.m.	Coastal Carolina at South Alabama	69–68^OT	1,039	^[46]
March 28	10:00 p.m.	Southern Utah at Fresno State	48–67	3,006	^[47]
Championship
April 1	6:00 p.m.	Fresno State at Coastal Carolina	85–74	1,407	^[48]
Game times in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4). All games broadcast on ESPN+.^[49]

Bracket

The Basketball Classic field was announced after the field for the NIT was released on March 13.

Note: Bracket is for visual purposes only. In lieu of a traditional bracket, the field and matchups are re-set after each round.

With an 18-team bracket, organizers chose to match one second-round winner against Portland, with three other second-round winners advancing directly to the semifinals.

First round March 16		First/Second round March 15–19/March 22		Second round/Quarterfinals March 21–23/March 26		Semifinals March 28		Championship April 1

		New Orleans	73
		Portland	94
				Portland	66
Kent State	79			Southern Utah	77
Southern Utah	83	Southern Utah	82
Western Illinois	54	UTEP	69
UTEP	80					Southern Utah	48
						Fresno State	67
		Morgan State	65
		Youngstown State	70
				Youngstown State	71
				Fresno State	80
		Eastern Washington	74
		Fresno State	83
								Fresno State	85
								Coastal Carolina	74
		Detroit Mercy	79
		Florida Gulf Coast	95
				Florida Gulf Coast	68
				Coastal Carolina	84
		Maryland Eastern Shore	42
		Coastal Carolina	66
						Coastal Carolina	69*
						South Alabama	68
		USC Upstate	80
		Appalachian State	74
				USC Upstate	79
				South Alabama	83
		Southeastern Louisiana	68
		South Alabama	70

Home teams listed second.
* – Denotes overtime periods

Awards

The following most valuable players were selected for each of the Legend Games:

Zelmo Beaty Game – Rudi Williams, Coastal Carolina^[50]
Marques Haynes Game – Dwayne Cohill, Youngstown State^[34]
Travis Grant Game – Javon Franklin, South Alabama^[51]
Willis Reed Game – Dre Marin, Southern Utah^[52]

Notes

References

External links

The Basketball Classic official website

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[a]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

[34]

[35]

[36]

[37]

[b]

[39]

[40]

[41]

[42]

[43]

[44]

[45]

[46]

[47]

[48]

[49]

[50]

[51]

[52]

Search